Fuel system contamination can cause serious problems in any engine. Modern high-performance, low-emission models are especially vulnerable to contaminants. Generally speaking, fuel contaminants can be described as small to microscopic particles suspended in any fuel that are typically measured in units called microns. One micron is equivalent to one-millionth of a meter. Various types of contaminants can be found in fuel. For example, dirt and dust can be present, which can cause fungi growth and cloudiness. Rust can accumulate in fuel flowing through rusted hoses and fuel lines corroding or clogging components, such as, injectors and control valves of an engine. Excessive water in fuel can cause algae formation while certain extraneous particulates can affect fuel stability.
Such contaminants in fuel are common and can cause premature engine wear, reduce component life, reduce performance and even cause sudden engine failure. As critical components wear prematurely, engine power drops off, fuel consumption rises, emissions increase and the odds of a costly breakdown rise dramatically. In at least some occasions, contaminants can be as abrasive as the materials used to machine parts in the manufacturing process of an engine. Accordingly, alleviating or possibly even completely eliminating contamination from fuel before fuel reaches the engine is highly desirable. These issues may be particularly acute in remote locales where fuel is stored on construction sites to power construction equipment or in nations or regions where fuel quality guidelines are either not stringent or loosely enforced.
While the effects of dirty fuel can be minimized by using proper storage, handling, maintenance and service processes, such methods are often not followed, or even if followed may not be sufficient and may need to be augmented by other procedures. Techniques for minimizing and/or removing contaminants in fuel have been proposed in the past. One technique employs specialized external pumps for cleaning and filtering fuel before fuel even enters a fuel tank for combustion and/or storage. Although this technique may be effective in removing some contaminants, not all contaminants are removed, which may nonetheless find their way into the fuel tank. Furthermore, more contaminants may accumulate in the fuel from the point of filtration up to the point of the fuel entering the fuel tank. Contaminants may even accumulate in the fuel stored within the fuel tank, due to corrosion of the fuel tank walls and other components thereof, or contaminants entering the fuel tank when the fuel tank cap is opened. Such contaminants may find their way through the fuel line into the engine and may cause at least some of the problems mentioned above.
Other techniques employ fuel filters within the fuel tank. Although such fuel filters may alleviate at least some of the aforementioned problems, these fuel filters are usually not effective when the level of the fuel within the fuel tank reaches (e.g., empties) to a certain level. Unfiltered fuel from the bottom of the fuel tank may therefore find its way into the engine through the fuel line, creating some or all of the aforementioned problems.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous if an improved fuel filtration system that removed contaminants before fuel reached the engine were developed. It would be additionally beneficial if such a fuel filtration system could effectively filter fuel irrespective of the level of fuel within the fuel tank.